Today is World Wide Candle Lighting Day.

There were no usual Twitter hashtags or shares to remind people to join in this poignant ceremony. I read about this from a post by Kaushal Kishore.

I wanted to join, not only because I lost one of my students to a car accident a month ago, but also in solidarity with all those who have lost their children to an untimely death.

The Compassionate Friends Worldwide Candle Lighting on the 2nd Sunday in December unites family and friends around the globe in lighting candles for one hour to honor the memories of the sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, and grandchildren who left too soon. As candles are lit on December 13th, 2020 at 7:00 pm local time, hundreds of thousands of people commemorate and honor the memory of all children gone too soon.

Compassionatefriends.org

The statistics of child death globally, is still alarming. A recent UNICEF report revealed that over 882,000 children under the age of five died in 2018 — that is over 100 children every hour, or a child every minute.

Remember the children who have died due to ill health and malnutrition.

Every 7 minutes, somewhere in the world, an adolescent is killed by an act of violence. Remember them.

There are children who are caught in family fueds, kidnapped and murdered by family members. Remember them.

Children are raped and killed. Remember them.

There is no greater pain, than having to bury your child. The dimensions of that loss is something that one can never comprehend.

These candles are for them, the children, who are the candles, that have burned out long before their time, caught in a gust of wind.

Sir Elton John’s song, Candle in the Wind, is the best tribute to those lives